Whenever I have contemplated Palm Sunday, I have been struck by how fickle humanity can be. One day they are singing, “Hosanna,” to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, and just a few days later the people are yelling, “Crucify Him!” How quickly and easily people can change. Though I knew this, I continued to be stupefied by this drastic contrast.
Recently, I have come to have a new look at this day.
In the culture in which we now live, the whole process from death to burial is the funeral arrangements. The place where the body lays and the family grieves has its own name. The grieving place is a place where friends and family can visit and grieve together. Many will spend the night before the burial together, sleeping in the same place as the departed loved one. Many of the tribes here will pass the night singing together. In order to help people to know where the grieving place is, a palm branch will be placed in the ground down the road from and be pointed toward the grieving place.
The palm branch points toward the grieving.
What never made sense to me before, the joy of waving palm branches and singing preceding the cross, now makes sense. The palm branches point to the grief ahead.
But O the joy that lays on the other side for those that know the rest of the story! Death does not have the last word! Jesus’ resurrection conquers death and brings life everlasting to those that follow Him! Jesus alone changes our mourning into rejoicing.
